Road guard construction



July 2.1, 1936. F. l.. cARsWELL ET AL 2,047,990

ROAD GUARD CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Nov. 18, 1931 nventor HEMA/v 64I/wwf# 0770 W 50W/07. M M Gttorneg Patented July 2l, 1936 y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,047,990 ROAD GUARD CONSTRUCTION Jersey Continuation of applications Serial No.

November 18, 1931, and Serial No. 578,068, No-

vember 21, 1931.

This application March 23, 1932, Serial No. 600,720

12 claims. (c1. 25o-13.1)

This invention relates to road guard construction, and more particularly to a guard rail con'- under impact would often splinter and break,.

thus presenting a greater menace to life than no fence at all. In the case of strands of cable, although of suicient strength to prevent the vehicle from leaving the road the tendency was for the impacting vehicle to be guided by the cable into a pocket adjacent the concrete post, supporting the cable, thus resulting in extensive damage to the vehicle. Similar objections accompany the use of wire mesh, but in addition, distortion of the wire mesh was permanent and necessitated the replacement of the entire stretch of fencing.

'Ihe metal rail guards have been variously devised, but have not come into general use, due, no doubt, to certain inherent deciencies. Flat metal sheets have been tried, but found to be unsatisfactory because of their tendency to twist and let a vehicle run under them as well as their ready tendency to take a permanent set in a disf torted position. In certain instances the individual metal sheets or rails have each been tensioned by resilient connections to the supporting posts. An impact against one such rail was absorbed almost entirely by such rail with resultant injurylto or virtual destruction of the rail or its mountings. In certain cases where the rails were secured together so as to transmit impact stresses the rail was not anchored at the oppo- .site ends and hence the device was largely ineffective.

As the result of many experiments and much investigational work we have .devised a road guard construction which has successfully met the most exacting requirements and tests in use, which embodies principles and features not present in prior road guards, and which is simple and cheap to make, erct and repair. l

The embodiment ofthe present invention disclosed herein consists generally of a. plurality of upright supporting posts, a rail consisting of metal membersadjustably secured toeach other in overlapping or telescoping relation and tensioned as an entirety and anchored at each end, and resilient mountings to secure the railto the posts. The posts may be of any desired form, shape and material so long as they afford ade- 5 quate support for the rail. The resilient mountings are adjustable lengthwise ofthe rail to align readily with posts which are not set exactly in proper'predetermined positions and are so constructed as to permit considerable lateral movement of the rail relative to the posts while strongly resisting any twisting or vertical movements of the rail. The mountings extend out from the posts far enough for a vehicle wheel in engagement'with the rail to miss the post entirely. 'I'he 15 rail is tensioned as an entirety and is anchored at each end sothat an impact force is distributed throughout the rail and to all the mounting springs with the result that a tremendous force can be absorbed and yet the device will be able 20 to spring back to its normal position quickly enough and with force sufcient in many cases to throw the impacting vehicle clear of the rail. The rail is rigid and highly resistant to permanent deformation because of its corrugated shape, 25 thus providing great strength for a given metal thickness. The corrugations make the rail readily visible at all times because of the tendency to form lengthwise parallel bright and dark lines or areas due to the diierent angles at which 30 light is reected from the tops and bottoms of the corrugations. No marker, such as colored reilectors and the like are needed for this reason. Moreover, the corrugations afford the minimum amount of frictional resistance to an auto tire or other part and hence a vehicle after striking the rail'may continue along in engagement with it and be easier to steer away from the rail than where the friction is greater as the case of a at rail. The entire device can be readily erected or assembled, and damaged or broken parts can be readily replaced.

This application is a continuation of our pending applications, Serial No. 578,068, iiled November 21, 1931 and Serial No. 575,852, filed November 18, 1931.

Our invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof wherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts and wherein: 1

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a guard rail installation embodying our invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged detailed elevation partly in section of the device of Figure l taken j near a supporting post;

4 trating the on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view illustrating the anchoring means at the end'of the rail;

rail members Iv corrugated lengthwise as shown, and secured to each other in overlapping and preferablytelescoping relation, as shown in Figure 3, the edges of each rail member I being rolled over to present a curved or rounded edge surface. Adjacent members I are secured together as by bolts 2 carried by one member and extending through elongated slots 3 in the other member. A bracket 4 secured as by rivets 5 to one member I affords anchorage for the bent ends of tensioning and adjusting bolts or tie `rods B, which bolts extend past a somewhat similar bracket 1 secured to the adjacent rail member as by rivets 8. Nuts 9 on the bolts 6 serve to adjust to va limited extent the brackets 4 and 1 relative to each other and to tension the rail A at the joints of the members I. These adjusting means, as shown in Fig. 3, are disposed wholly to one side of the point of overlap of the rails, which point of overlap is defined by the end of one rail into which the other rail telescopes. In other words the adjusting means do not span the space between the untelescoped` ends of the rails but on the contrary are located on the rear side of the rail into' which a cooperating rail is telescoped. The rail A is anchored vat each end as by a bracket III, secured to the end member I, a link II co-operating therewith, a link I2 including a turnbuckle and a deadman (not shown). The turnbuckles apply tension to the rail A as an entirety and this tension may be supplemented by bolts 6.

The mounting for the rail A comprises the bracket 1, a second bracketI3 secured to the supporting post I4 as by a bolt I5 and interconnecting bolts I6 with which spacing compression springs I1 are associated. The bracket 1 has a loose sliding t in the arms of bracket I3 but lateral relative movement of these brackets is resisted by one or both of the springs I1. If a force is applied to the lower part of the rail A it is resisted by the lower springs I1 and also by engagement of the bracket 1 with the arms of bracket I3 tending to spread the latter arms apart. The bolts. I6 i'lt loosely through holes in the brackets and permit a. limited amount of lengthwise relative movement of the brackets. v

The post I4 shown in Figure 4 is of corrugated channel shaped metal preferably set in a concrete footing. It is to be understood however,

that any suitable post may be used and set in pressed.`- The railA and springs I1 tend to spring I back toftheiroriginal position and to push the vehicle away from the railA or, when the blow is'jdelvered' at an acute angle, to cam the vehicle to slide along the rail without striking a post. The rigidity of the rail, its tension, and the mountings all co-operate to prevent `any twisting or vertical movement which might allow la vehicle wheel to tip the rail and pass under it, thereby becoming locked in place or diverted along the rail until the wheel engages a post.

The corrugated surface of rail A facilitates the sliding of a wheel along the rail and does not mar the vehicle on such a large area as might The guard rail A consists of a plurality of metal. I

be the case with a fiat rail.

The device practically frees itself of any vehicle which strikes it, and with little'or no damage to the vehicle. It does not require any special warning lights because itis self-warning when light strikes its corrugated surface. It is sturdy and yet inexpensive to make, erect and repair.

Having thus described our invention so that those skilled in the art may be able to practice the same what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is defined in what is claimed.`

What is claimed is:

l. A rail mounting for a road guard comprising a bracket adapted to be secured to a. supporting post and having laterally extending arms, a second bracket loosely sliding against said arms, means uniting said brackets in assembled position, and spring'means interposed between said brackets to resist movement of the brackets toward each other.

2. A guard railing of the character described comprising a plurality of posts, a bracket member secured to each post and having outwardly extending arms, a companion member yieldably positioned between said arms andV connected to each lbracket member and held from vertical movement by said arms, and rail members secured to said companion members.

3 A guard railing of the character described comprising a plurality of posts, a bracket member rmly secured to each post, companion bracket members, bolts loosely connecting a companion member to its bracket member, resilient means interposed between said bracket 4members and the companion members, and rail members secured to said companion members.

4. A road guard comprising a plurality of corrugated metal rail members secured together in end-to-end relation, supporting means, means for securing said rail members to said supportingv means including a.l movable member secured to each rail member, a xed member secured te each supporting means, resilient means disposed between the said lxed and said movable members, and means to effect relative movement of adjacent rail members.

5. A road guard of the character described comprising a plurality of posts, a bracket member secured to each post, a companion member yieldably connected to each bracket member and held from vertical movement thereby, and rail members secured to said companion members against relative movement thereto. y 6. A highfway guard rail comprising a plurality of sheet metal members, each member consisting of an elongated piece of sheet metal having substantially semi-circular longitudinal edge flanges, one end of each member being of a width slightly less than the distance between the anges at the other end, the narrow end of each member being assembled in telescoping relation within the curved flanges of the adjacent member, and means seeming the telescoping ends of the rail members in assembled position.

'1. A highway guard rail comprising a plurality of sheet metal members, each member consisting of an elongated piece of sheet metal having curved longitudinal edge anges on one side thereof, one end of each member being of a width slightly less than the distance between the curved edge iianges of an adjacent member, the narrow end of each member being assembled in telescoping relation within the curved ilanges of an adjacent member, means securing the telescoping ends of the rail members in assembled position, and adjusting means attached to the ends of adjacent telescoped members for adjusting the positions of such members with respect to each other and imparting tension to the rail.

8. A road guard comprising a plurality of posts xed in position along the side of a highway, rail supports, including spring means, on the highway sides of the posts and extending outwardly therefrom suiciently far to prevent contact of vehicle wheels with the posts, a guard rail on the highway sides of the supports in position to engage a wheel hub, the said supports serving to,

resist resilientlyimpact forces of a vehicle against the raiLsaid rail consisting of a plurality of sheet metal members, each member having curved longitudinal edge anges on one side thereof, the

` ends f said members being nested and telescoped with the curved flanges of adjacent members,

4means connecting the rail members together in including a plurality of sections, the adjacent ends thereof disposed in telescoping relation and presenting a' substantial uninten'upted vehicle engaging surface and adjusting means at the ends of said sections and wholly to one side of the point of overlap for adjusting the position of the ends 5 of adjacent sections relative to each other.

10. In a highway guard a rail of uniform width consisting of a plurality of similar rail members, each member consisting of an elongated piece of sheet metal having the longitudinal edges therel of rearwardly bent to form opposite curved longitudinal edges, one end of each of said members being so formed as to be received and retained between the opposite curved longitudinal edges of an adjacent rail member in telescoping relation l5 and means for connecting the telescoping ends.

11. In a highway guard a rail of uniform width consisting of a plurality of similar rail members; each member consisting of an elongated piece of sheet metal having the longitudinal edges thereof rearwardly bent to form opposite curved longitudinal edges, one end of each member being of slightly less outside width than the distance between the curved edges at the other end, the narrow end of each member being assembled in telescoping relation within the curved edges of the adjacent member and means for connecting the telescoping ends.

12. A road guard comprising a plurality of posts,

a rail extending past and supported by a plurality of said posts, the rail being composed of a plurality of sections overlapping at their ends, and adjusting means secured to two overlapping sections and disposed between the ends of one of said sections and wholly to one side of the point of overlap for adjusting the extent of overlap of said sections.

FIRMAN L. CARSWELL.

OTTO W. SCHMIDT. 

